Chapter Text
Kaya looks in the mirror of her bathroom and takes a deep breath, folding her hands in front of her chest. She draws another shaky breath and leaves her room. It’s still early in the morning, there has been no announcement yet, so she hadn’t expected Mana to be awake already.
The environmental scientist smiles and greets her with a soft but excited voice “Uehara-san, good morning!”
Kaya raises an eyebrow at those words “It’s anything but a good morning, Ishikawa-san. Why are you up so early?”
“I always take early morning walks. Fukui-kun usually accompanies me, but he’s still asleep today.” Mana folds her hands in front of her and closes her eyes, her smile not faltering once “Would you like to join me? Maybe it can help you feel a little better.”
Exhaling softly, Kaya casts a quick glance behind her before looking back at a smiling Mana “Yeah, sure…”
Despite Mana’s happy reaction, Kaya keeps her guard up. For all she knows this could be a trap, especially since Mana leads them into the forest surrounding the cabins. They discuss a few of their classmates, mainly the ones the two girls get along with, which are pretty different people. While Mana is fond of Hachiro and Youta, Kaya gets along better with Kaori and Hikaru.
Eventually, once they have reached the top of a hill and can overlook most of the area if they look past all the trees, Mana brings up the dreaded subject.
“How are you doing after seeing the motive video?” Mana asks with a patient smile.
Kaya crosses her arms, pressing her lips together in a thin line. It is no secret that she’s not exactly fond of Mana. The candle maker had only agreed to this walk because she had nothing better to do and wanted to at least try tolerating this girl.
“Terrible.” Kaya blurts out with a huff.
Mana brushes a strand of hair that got caught by the wind behind her ear “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No, but if I did I wouldn’t have turned to you.” Kaya looks ahead with a frown “No offence but we’re not close at all.”
“That’s fair…” Mana’s eyes glinster before she closes them, her smile not faltering once “But maybe it’ll help to talk about it.”
In a split second, Kaya snaps her head towards the other girl with a glare “I don’t want to. I already said that, so stop ignoring what you don’t wanna hear. You think you can just guilt-trip people into doing what you think is right?! Well, you can’t!”
Mana takes a step back, tears gathering in her eyes “I don’t… I’m not trying to… I just want to help.” A sob shakes her frame.
“Quit it! Some people don’t want your control!” Kaya swipes her hand through the air while taking a step towards Mana as she spits out the words “You always think you know what’s best! Well, you don’t! People are different! And guess what, your stupid opinion is subjective! You’re a scientist, Ishikawa! Get your brain out of the gutter and understand the difference between facts and opinions and don’t shove them down everyone throats!”
Taking a step back every time Kaya takes one forward, Mana hesitantly reaches out a shaky hand, tears flowing down her face “Uehara-”
“No! I don’t wanna hear it!” Kaya hisses “You’re always playing the victim! Never taking some responsibility! Well, you wanna be the victim?” With Mana now pushed against a tree, Kaya firmly wraps her hands around her neck and slams her against it. A loud crack fills the air and Mana screams in pain to the extend possible “How about you become the first victim of this hell then?!”
Mana’s eyes widen in terror while she struggles, trying to pry Kaya’s hands off her neck, tearing the rope bracelet from her wrist. She gasps for air “Uehara-san… please… don’t…”
“Too late.” Kaya grits her teeth. A part of her screams that she shouldn’t do this, but when recalling the motive video, the way her grandparents’ house was a mess with blood all over the place, she tightens her grip on Mana’s throat to completely cut off the air flow. Kaya’s hands tremble, but she’s unsure if it’s fear or rage, maybe both.
Slowly but surely, Mana’s attempts to escape grow weaker. Every try lasts shorter until she stops trying at all. After her body goes limp, Kaya keeps her hands in place for an uncertain amount of time. When she finally steps back, panting, Mana’s body falls on the ground and her open eyes stare in distance. They’re empty.
Kaya looks at her shaky hands with wide eyes. Those are now the hands of a killer. They’re murder weapons.
The candle maker sinks to her knees and holds her hands close to her chest.
She should go join the others soon, but she needs to calm down first. So she kneels to the ground, gathering the coloured beads of her bracelet.
After all, soon she’ll have to participate in a Class Trial that, no matter how it turns out, will be her first and last.